I Cry When I Rewatch RuPaul’s Drag Race
Season 9

angel leyba

for Kassandra

but only in the finale
when Sasha Velour
and Shea Coulee go
head to head in the iconic
Whitney Houston “I Get So
Emotional” lip sync and

even though Sasha
wins and will go on
to take the crown they
hold each other

for the longest five
seconds ever felt
through a screen
because they understand

what it means to have
a best friend and to find
a sister and to love
and to win and to lose and to
lose pieces of what
you’ve found when you

become the you
that keeps winning
long after the clicking
of your sister’s heels
fades behind the big curtain

leaving nothing but silky
red rose petals on the stage
and the intense roar
of the live audience

clapping
yelling
crying
embracing
because they can’t bear
to see it end

about the author

Angel Leyba is a queer, Latinx writer and creative from South Bay San Diego currently located in Oakland. They received their BA in English from UC Berkeley where they also served as the Managing Editor of Berkeley Poetry Review. Her words have appeared in Honey Literary, Perhappened Mag, and Soft Quarterly. You can find them on Twitter @xspacebar.